NBA: Memphis Grizzlies VS Phoenix Suns Pick and Predictions 01/22/2023

Game: 8:10 PM ET,  Sunday, January 22nd, 2023

Venue: Footprint Center, Phoenix, Arizona

TV:  NBA League Pass

Grizzlies: 31-14, 2nd place Western Conference

Suns: 22-24, 10th place Western Conference

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  Grizzlies -9.5, O/U 232.5

PointsBet: Point Spread: Grizzlies -9.5, O/U 233

Fanduel: Point Spread: Grizzlies -9.5, O/U 233

Grizzlies: PF Jaren Jackson JR, SF Dillon Brooks, C Steven Adams, PG Ja Morant, SG Desmond Bane

Suns: PF Torrey Craig, SF Dario Saric, C Deandre Ayton, PG Damion Lee, SG Mikal Bridges

The NBA had a really great rivalry building with these two Western Conference teams. The Grizzlies are living up to their end of the bargain… The Suns are not.  The Grizzlies lost their Western Conference playoff semifinals series to the Golden State Warriors and narrowly missed the chance to face the Suns in the Conference Finals.  Both teams were expected to be back and we would possibly get that matchup.  The Grizzlies are in second place in the Western Conference and winning at a blistering pace at the moment.  The only thing holding the Grizzlies back from #1 is that the Denver Nuggets are winning at the same blistering pace.  The Grizzlies have tons of talent, not just in the starting five with superstar Ja Morant, but all the way down the bench. The Suns have fallen apart since their playoff run came to an end against the same Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals last season.  Both teams can comfort themselves that they both lost to the eventual NBA Champions… but the road since has been much more rocky for the Suns.  SG Devin Booker is injured, PG Chris Paul keeps getting injured, C Deandre Ayton is not happy with the team and the team is not happy with him, PF Jae Crowder has not played at all or even suited up or even been with the team since both parties were unable to agree on a contract extension… Jae will be out until a trade is completed to get him gone…. Oh and a ton of other players suffered injuries here and there… PG Cameron Payne is a backup that was supposed to take a bigger role this season… he has missed time… PF Cameron Johnson was supposed to take over for Jae Crowder this season and he has missed time. It has been raining hard and they have no umbrellas.  The great betting opportunity here is figuring out how many points you should expect the Grizzlies to win by.

The Memphis Grizzlies have won 9 of their last 10 games. They had been on an 11 game winning streak until the Lakers beat them 122-121 last night. The Grizzlies scored well, but were simply caught looking past the Lakers.  No one on the Grizzlies expected that Lakers sixth man Russell Westbrook would drop in for 29 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists in 31 minutes of play!  Russell attacked and attacked.  PG Ja Morant had 22 points, 8 assists, SG Desmond Bane had 16 points on a bad shooting night… But the big disappointment was SF Dillon Brooks shooting the Grizzlies out of winning by getting 9 points on an awful 4 of 17 from the field.  They are human despite the previous 11 straight wins.

The Phoenix Suns have only won 2 of their last 10 games.  In fact Memphis beat them 136-106 just two games ago.  They did however win their last game over the Brooklyn Nets 117-112. In the win Mikal Bridges landed 28 points and 9 assists playing out of his small forward position and in the Point Guard spot. C Deandre Ayton controlled the paint with 24 points and 14 rebounds.  PF Cameron Johnson had 19 points off the bench in limited minutes after only recently returning from injury. 

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MEM: 31-14, 22-22-1 ATS, 24-21 O/U, 11-11 in road games.

PHO: 22-24, 23-23 ATS, 22-24 O/U, 15-7 in home games.

The Grizzlies are 5th in scoring with 117.6 points per game, 1st in rebounds with 49.3 per game, 11th in AST/TO ratio with 1.8, and 2nd in blocks with 6.2 per game.

The Suns are 20th in scoring with 112.7 points per game, 15th in rebounds with 43.2 per game, 6th in AST/TO ratio with 1.9, and 13th in blocked shots per game with 4.9.

Our prediction for Sunday, January 22nd is…. Grizzlies 130 - 101

Blow Out again.  There is no reason to think the Suns can handle the Grizzlies any better than they did a couple of games ago.  In fact what we do know is that SF Dillon Brooks will not shoot as badly again.  He is actually a very good shooter who had a bad night against the Lakers and will easily bounce back.  

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Grizzlies: SF Dillon Brooks.  Coming off of a bad shooting night that cost his team a win over the Lakers… Dillon will be re-energized.  Dillon has had an odd journey.  He was clearly the young starting shooting guard for the Grizzlies future 3 seasons ago… Then a injury absence moved Desmond Bane into the starting lineup next to Ja Morant and Dillon is never getting it back… so he has to make SF work for him and the team.

Suns: SF Mikal Bridges.  Mikal is one of the best 2-way players in the entire league.  He adds tons and tons of value to the Suns and anytime you watch the Sun's you should be watching him. He will most likely not be a star in the NBA… but he is a do everything glue guy that every team that expects to be great needs.

Grizzlies: Taylor “get to know me” Jenkins

Suns: Monty “c’mon guys lets go!” Williams